Third edition of the tournament takes place at the Royal Primerose Tennis Club in Brussels…wildcards went to Brit Elena Baltacha, Belgiuan Alison Van Uytvanck, and the top seed Wozniacki…Pulling from the event were Irina-Camelia Begu, Simona Halep, Kristina Mladenovic, Ayumi Morita and Aggie Radwanska…Radwanska beat Halep in last year’s final…The country that produced recent No. 1s Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin now has no players in the Top 20 and only two in the Top 100…Interesting qualifying field contains former world No. 1 junior Taylor Townsend, Shahar Peer and former US Open sensation Melanie Oudin…Wozniacki (2011) is the lone returning former champ in the field.

Notes: Insane field with two former No. 1s and an additional Slam champ all unseeded…The Top 3 seeds are current or former No. 1s…Tough opening-round matches are (5) Na vs. Tamira Paszek then the winner of Venus and (WC) Medina Garrigues, (3) Azarenka vs. Pavlyuchenkova, (11) Petrova vs. a qualifier then likely Kuznetsova, (16) Ivanovic vs. a qualifier then likely her Serb countrywoman Jankovic, (9) Stosur vs. the clay-savvy Suarez Navarro, and (2) Sharapova vs. a qualifier then likely Peng…No blue clay this year…Former champs in the field are Serena Williams (2012) and Kvitova (2011).

Women’s Notes: (1) Stosur after a bye could open against Cornet, and (3) Wozniacki after a bye against the Slam winner Schiavone…Pulling from the event were Marina Erakovic, Sara Errani, Kaia Kanepi, and Aleksandra Wozniak…Returning champs in the field are Cibulkova (2011) and Schiavone (2009).

“I know this is special, this day, for him, but I’m doing my job,” said del Potro, who is 3-1 career against Roddick, but lost their most recent meeting. “I will try to be focused on my match and doing my things, my shots. The match is going to be very tough. But, anyway, if I play in high level, will be tough for both players. The crowd loves Andy here and they have respect me, so it will be a fantastic show to the players and to the fans also.”

Wozniacki is the lone returning champion, trying to win her fifth straight New Haven Open. A win this year for Wozniacki would put her in rarified company, as only three players have won a tournament title five years in a row — Chris Evert (Charleston), Steffi Graf (Hamburg), and Martina Navratilova (Eastbourne, Wimbledon and Chicago).

the Top 8 seeds receive first round byes, and tough openers include (15) Kohlschreiber vs. (WC) Baker, winner to meet the Harrison vs. Tomic victor; (10) Fish vs. F-Lo, (8) Monaco possibly vs. The Worm 2nd rd., (4) Ferrer possibly vs. Wawrinka 2nd rd., (14) Nishikori vs. Granoller, winner to possibly meet (WC) Blake; (11) Simon vs. Baghdatis, winner to meet Raonic vs. Gasquet victor; (6) Del Potro vs. Nalbandian/Haas winner, (9) Isner vs. Viktor Troicki, victor to face (WC) Hewitt vs. Mikhail Youzhny winner; (3) Murray possibly opening vs. (WC) Querrey, and (13) Dolgopolov vs. Davydenko

Notes: Top 4 seeds receive first round byes, but plenty of good opening round matches including (1) Isner vs. Ram/qualifier winner (Ram coming off Newport SF), (7) Bogomolov vs. (WC) Jack Sock, (8) Soeda vs. X-Man, and (6) Harrison vs. Blake in a U.S. new vs. old match-up; additional wildcards went to Steve Johnson and Brian Baker; Mardy Fish (2011-10) has won the event both years since its re-inception in Atlanta, last year beating Isner and saving match points in brutal temperatures.

(1) Isner after a bye could face X-Man, and (6) Haase starts against former No. 1 and French Open champion Ferrero; seeds Isner, Simon and Tomic make their debuts in Nice; the Bryan brothers are the top seeds in doubles; Almagro (2011) is the lone returning champ in the field, defeating Victor Hanescu in last year’s seat-emptying final.

“I think Victoria is the player to beat,” Williams said. “She has won I don’t know how many tournaments this year alone. That’s an amazing amount. So if you look at the stats, you just have to put her up there as the player to beat.”

Over the weekend the defending champion Czech Republic moved into the final behind current Wimbledon holder Petra Kvitova, and in the final they will meet the hungry Serbian squad, powered by former No. 1s Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic, with the Serbs in their first-ever final.